WCOL Winter Wonder Jam 2016 Featuring: Chris Janson

Special Guests: High Valley and LANco

Doors for the Show will open at 8pm

Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 day of show

Tickets on-sale Wednesday, November 23rd at 10am

PURCHASE HERE

NASHVILLE, TN – (June 30, 2016) – With his heartfelt single “Holdin’ Her” impacting the sales and singles charts, singer-songwriter Chris Janson continues to add milestones to his career.

Last week he made a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville to get a personal tour of the ACM Gallery exhibit which contains an entire case filled with Janson items. Each piece of memorabilia played a part in his rise to stardom including boots worn since his early days when he first arrived in Nashville and played shows at Tootsie’s, a Bocephus T shirt, his signature Fender harmonica and a guitar he paid $25 for and calls “the best investment I ever made.” It’s a vintage Yamaha guitar signed by Merle Haggard that Janson wrote all of the songs for his debut album “Buy Me A Boat” on and every song he’s had recorded by other artists.

“Being part of this exhibit is a top three musical achievement of my career,” said Janson. “It’s right up there with playing on the Grand Ole Opry and having my songs played on country radio.”

Janson is also the latest celebrity face to don the walls of Nashville’s famed restaurant, the Palm. Janson’s caricature is featured amongst a variety of other musicians, actors, politicians, athletes, executives, regular customers and people of note, as well as classic cartoons. “I eat there a lot,” says Janson. “My go-to is the Power Lunch — Steak, onion strings and a wedge salad. Oh and cheesecake plain.”

In addition to his current single “Holdin” Her,” look for more Janson penned songs on the charts soon as Tim McGraw just announced his next single “That’s How I’ll Always Be” and earlier this year, LoCash’s single “I Love This Life.”

Drake White and The Big Fire will be performing live at The Bluestone on Friday, May 5th, 2017

Featured Artist: Drake White

Opening Artist: Dave Kennedy

Opening Artist: Channing Wilson

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

PURCHASE HERE–This Show is SOLD OUT

Drake White Tickets on sale Friday, December 16th at 10am

VIP OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE

VIP TABLE PURCHASE DOES NOT INCLUDE ADMISSION TICKETS TO THE SHOW.  

Admission tickets must be purchased separately.

• Loft Lower Tier: $250 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Prime view of the stage!
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• VIP Server
• Exclusive Private Bar access

• Loft Upper Tier: $200 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• VIP Server
• Private Bar Access
• May have an obstructed view
• *All VIP tables located in the loft area

*All Sales are final

Every reaction begins with a catalyst, some initial event that sets things on their inexorable course. For Drake White, it goes back to something raw and elemental in his debut album Spark.

“I learned how to play guitar and keep people’s attention around a fire,” explains the Hokes Bluff, Alabama native. “A spark can start a fire that can keep you alive and sustain you. So this is the beginning for me. This is the first strike of the flint.”

The spirit of Spark comes from those simple, early days spent enjoying the outdoors among friends in the warm glow of a fire. And though he’s now a city dweller with all the complications and distractions that entails, White still seeks the freedom and deeper connections he felt when the chorus of nature and the strums of his guitar blended into one harmonious song — the kind of contentment he sings about in the swirling majesty of his single “Livin’ the Dream.” Drake White

“We grew up free. We grew up on 4-wheelers, riding through the backwoods,” he says. “We grew up hunting and fishing and being out in the Appalachian Mountains. People don’t understand how beautiful north Alabama is until you see it in person.”

Drake White

Save for “Livin’ the Dream,” White wrote or co-wrote the remaining 11 tracks on Spark, working with red-hot producers Ross Copperman and Jeremy Stover through the process. He also brought in his own band for a handful of tracks to capture the energy of his live shows.

The first sound on Spark — before the pulse-quickening “Heartbeat” kicks into gear — is the voice of White’s late grandfather speaking from the pulpit. Several of these ghostly transmissions from the past appear on Spark, all extolling the virtues of love, brotherhood and nature. It’s a touch of the surreal that nods at White’s fondness for Pink Floyd’s psychedelic masterpiece The Wall, but also a deeply personal gesture that matches his vision perfectly.

“I went through about five or six sermons of my grandfather and picked out certain little snippets,” he says. “I just think they kind of fit. They’re weird and people are asking what they are. And that was my point: to get people talking about it.”

White has his own message of finding some harmony amid the demands of modern life, one that goes down easy in the uplifting, Zac Brown Band-assisted Southern rock anthem “Back to Free” and the cautionary-but soulful “I Need Real.” It’s a simple message of not letting oneself be swallowed up by technology and seeking out honest, genuine connections with others.

“When I’m at home, my wife and I keep our phones in the bedroom,” says White. “We listen to records. We hardly turn the TV on, unless it’s time for Game of Thrones. Before social networking was a smartphone app, we did it around a fire. That goes way back.”

With his gospel-derived, passionate delivery, White seems to have inherited his grandfather’s ability to touch crowds with a sermon — his divine vocal improvisations at the end of the honky-tonk flavored “Story” will undoubtedly get butts out of seats. White stresses that he isn’t a preacher, but doesn’t see a problem with putting his own methods for surviving the world out there.

“Some of the best songs, like Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” or anything by Bob Marley, have a little bit of preachin’,” he says. “I never want to come across too preachy, but instead I’m saying, ‘Hey man, this is my life, and this is what I do to be happy and I’m figuring it out just like you.’” Drake White

Spark covers an entire spectrum of emotions beyond these statements of character and self-definition. In “Making Me Look Good Again,” White cruises on an R&B-style groove to express his gratitude for his better half, while “Waiting on the Whiskey to Work” finds him embodying a man spun out on love and heartbreak. Then in the tropically-themed “Equator,” he flies south to give his nomadic side a little time to play.

“This record is about balance. It’s me asking, where’s that boy I used to be? Oh yeah, we gotta go get him back,” he says. “We gotta go on a hike or camping or grab my wife and go to some foreign country. I gotta feel alive. I gotta go out there and do that.” Drake White

Long a respected live entertainer with his (appropriately named) band the Big Fire, White’s climb to the limelight hasn’t been a straight or uncomplicated one. Rather than blowing up right away with a big debut single, he’s toiled on the road for years, giving jaw-dropping performances night after night and making believers one show at a time. “There are many different paths.

Country Music’s Rising Star,

Tony Jackson will be performing LIVE at The Bluestone on Friday, June 23rd

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

Opening Artist: Wyatt McCubbin

Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 day of show

Tickets will go on-sale Friday, April 21st at 10am

PURCHASE HERE

RESERVED LOFT TABLE SEATING

RESERVED TABLE PURCHASE DOES NOT INCLUDE ADMISSION TICKETS TO THE SHOW.  

Admission tickets must be purchased separately.

• Loft Lower Tier: $250 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Prime view of stage!
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• Server
• Exclusive Private Bar access

• Loft Upper Tier: $200 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
•  Server
• Private Bar Access
• May be Obstruction in View

*All Reserved tables located in the loft area

ALL SALES ARE FINAL

    Is it premature to see Hall of Fame material in a guy who’s just releasing his first album?

 Not if that guy is Tony Jackson. To put it plainly, Jackson is one of the most gifted singers ever to grace country music. His video “The Grand Tour” ignited an unprecedented 10 million Facebook views and 200,000 shares in just over 3 short weeks!

The respect Jackson has already earned within the music community is evident throughout Tony Jackson, as the new album is titled.  It features songs and/or performances by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members John Sebastian, Steve Cropper and Dr. John “Mac” Rebennack, Country Music Hall of Famers Vince Gill, Bill Anderson and Conway Twitty and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame luminary Norro Wilson.

But it is ease with which Jackson makes every song—even the familiar ones—distinctly his own that sets him apart.  Who else would dare to try and then succeed in bringing a fresh layer of emotional urgency to such a classic as George Jones’ “The Grand Tour” or Conway Twitty’s eternal “It’s Only Make Believe”?

On the first-time and lesser known songs, Jackson mints his own classics.  With its sweeping steel guitar flourishes and ambient barroom clatter, he transforms John Sebastian and Phil Galdston’s “Last Call” into the sweetest, most affectionate separation ballad imaginable.  With reverence and a twinkle in his eye, he enlists Sebastian and Vince Gill in revivifying (after 50 years) the Lovin’ Spoonful’s 1966 romp, “Nashville Cats.”  “When asked if we should recut the song,” Sebastian begins, “I said absolutely but we have to get Vince Gill, Paul Franklin and today’s real Nashville Cats in on the session and fortunately it was preserved on video,” he beams.

After capturing perfectly, the excitement of new love in Bill Anderson’s “I Didn’t Wake Up This Morning,” he moves on to a memory-stirring homage to Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Jr. and Willie Nelson in “They Lived It Up,” a lyrical scrapbook from Anderson and Bobby Tomberlin.

 Jackson shines as a keen-eyed songwriter in his own right with such memorable excursions as “Drink By Drink,” “Old Porch Swing” and “She’s Taking Me Home.”

 From start to finish, Tony Jackson stands out as a “discovery” album, the kind you listen to with such delight that you have to recommend it to friends.  And hundreds of thousands have done just that.

 Jackson is currently a headliner on the Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond, Virginia, and is almost certainly the only major bank executive ever to abandon a prominent IT job in finance at a Fortune 500 company to embark on a career in country music.  But he didn’t grow up a country fan.

The son of a Navy man, he led a base-to-base existence, at one point living with his family in Rota, Spain for three years.  His early musical background was sketchy at best.  “I sang ‘White Christmas’ in the Christmas play in the sixth grade,” he recalls.  ‘Everybody seemed to love it, but I was a wreck. My mother forced me to sing in the church choir, but I was kind of buried in the voices along with everybody else.”  This was basically his entire musical resume until ten or so years ago when a friend whose band had lost its lead singer asked Jackson to try out for the spot.  “I did,” he says, “and I was hooked after that.”

 Two weeks after graduating from high school, Jackson joined the Marines.  “I told my dad I was joining because I was sick of taking orders,” he says with a wry grin.  There was as much getting-ahead as gung-ho in Jackson’s enlistment.  “I was a computer and electronics geek as a teenager,” he says.  “When I talked to the recruiter, he told me the Marine Corps had just started a computer science school in Quantico, Virginia.  Fortunately, I scored high enough on the entrance exam to go to that school.” It was a smart move.  When he finished service, a prominent bank in Richmond snapped him up to work in its Information Technology division, initially assigning him the lowly chore of re-setting passwords.  “I was way overqualified,” he says, “so I got promoted fast.  I was a senior vice president by my early 30s.”

 It was while in the Marines that he first started paying serious attention to country music.      “My mother listened only to gospel,” he says.  “My dad was into jazz, hip hop, R&B, new jack swing—stuff like that.  But Armed Forces Radio played everything.  When I was living in Spain—when I was 10 to 13—Randy Travis came over there on a USO tour.  Some friends and I were out there early when they were setting up the stage, and we actually got to talk to him before we realized he was the guy who’d be performing later.  He was really cool to us. In the Marine Corps, when my friends and I played music for each other, we were all homesick.   So when you’d listen to these country songs that talked about family and home and heartbreak, it would really grab you.”

Aaron Watson will be performing live at The Bluestone on Thursday, October 5th

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

Opening Artists: Jon Wolfe and Dave Kennedy

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 day of show

Tickets go on-sale Friday, June 2nd at 10am

PURCHASE HERE

RESERVED LOFT TABLE SEATING

RESERVED TABLE PURCHASE DOES NOT INCLUDE ADMISSION TICKETS TO THE SHOW.  

Admission tickets must be purchased separately.

• Loft Lower Tier: $250 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Prime view of stage!
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• Server
• Exclusive Private Bar access

• Loft Upper Tier: $200 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
•  Server
• Private Bar Access
• May be Obstruction in View

*All Reserved tables located in the loft area

ALL SALES ARE FINAL

CHRIS JANSON will be performing live at The Bluestone on Friday, January 12th

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

Opening Artist: Jacob Powell

Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 day of show

Tickets will go on-sale Wednesday, December 6th at 10am

PURCHASE HERE

Chris Janson LIVE at The Bluestone

RESERVED LOFT TABLE SEATING

RESERVED TABLE PURCHASE DOES NOT INCLUDE ADMISSION TICKETS TO THE SHOW.  

Admission tickets must be purchased separately.

• Loft Lower Tier: $250 (seats up to four people-no exceptions)
• Prime view of stage!
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• Server
• Exclusive Private Bar access
  Loft Upper Tier: $200 (seats up to four people-no exceptions)

  Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light

• Server
• Private Bar Access

• May be Obstruction in View

*All Reserved tables located in the loft area

ALL SALES ARE FINAL

Chris Janson Performs LIVE at The Bluestone Friday, January 12th 2018.

Start your New Year off right by coming out to see Chris Janson at the
Bluestone. Doors open at 7:00pm. Tickets are on sale now at www.liveatthebluestone.com!

Chris Janson is a country boy from Perryville, Missouri who now lives in
Nashville, Tennessee. He is best known for his single “Buy Me A Boat” that
reached platinum and was a Top 5 hit on US Country carts. His personal and fun lyrics
draw fans in and will have you singing along all night!

Not only is Chris Janson a singer, but he is also a songwriter who has written songs for
Tim McGraw, Justin Moore, Randy Houser and Tyler Farr. He has even played
harmonica for Lee Brice’s song, “Beer”. Janson is multitalented artist who plays guitar,
bass, piano and drums. He is sure to have everyone clapping and stomping
their boots when he wails on his harmonica.

His latest album, Everybody, features a more vulnerable side of Janson with
tracks like “Drunk Girl” and “Bein’ a Dad”. Janson’s music is real and relatable to
anyone who listens. The latest album “Everybody” has a little something for everybody with his
upbeat favorites like “Fix a Drink”.

Be sure to mark your calendars for January, 12th 2018. It will be a party you won’t
want to miss! Janson is bringing the “Power of Positive Drinkin’” for a fun filled
night at The Bluestone.

Monster Energy Presents the Official Rock on the Range Pre Party at The Bluestone featuring Paradise Kitty with Special Guests Brandon & Dan of Atreyu and Cadaver Dogs.

Doors 7PM

18+

Proceeds Benefit F*ck Cancer

Chris Janson LIVE at The Bluestone on Thursday, June 21st, 2018!

*Doors for the show will open at 7PM

*Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 day of show

Ticket On-Sale NOW! 

Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville country artist Chris Janson was born to entertain crowds. The electrifying multi-instrumentalist is known as much for his hit songwriting as his “infectious” (Billboard) performances, with Rolling Stone describing him as having “a mesmerizing stage presence that most arena-headlining artists would kill for.”

“Fix a Drink”, the lead single from his highly anticipated sophomore album Everybody, went Top 10 at country radio, though Janson is no stranger to the charts. In 2015, Chris Janson’s breakthrough No. 1 Platinum single “Buy Me A Boat” was the 7th bestselling country song of the year. The singer/songwriter has also penned multiple top-charting hits including “Truck Yeah” (Tim McGraw), “That’s How I’ll Always Be” (Tim McGraw), “I Love This Life” (LoCash), and over 25 additional hit songs recorded by a long list of established artists.

Chris Janson joined Sam Hunt on the road for the 15 in a 30 Tour and announced The EVERYBODY Tour with headlining dates through 2017. He has become a Grand Ole Opry regular, taking the legendary stage more than 150 times to date, and made numerous television appearances including The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CONAN, The Today Show, ACM Awards and ACCA Awards.

 CANDLEBOX live at The Bluestone on July 11th, 2019

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

This show is Ages 18+

Tickets will go on-sale Friday, March 8th at 10am

PURCHASE HERE 

Candlebox is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. Since its formation in 1990, the group has released six studio albums, which have achieved multi-platinum and gold certification, as well as numerous charting singles, a compilation, and a CD+DVD.

Candlebox was the first successful act on Maverick Records, which went on to sign Alanis Morissette, Deftones and The Prodigy. They found immediate success with the release of their self-titled debut album in July 1993. It featured the band’s biggest hit songs, “Far Behind” and “You“, and was certified platinum by the RIAA four times.^[5] Their next two albums, Lucy and Happy Pills, also sold well. After troubles with Maverick, Candlebox broke up in 2000 after an alleged attempt to be freed from their contract. The band reunited in 2006, and two years later, they released their fourth album Into the Sun, followed by an extensive tour. Their latest album, Disappearing in Airports was released April 22, 2016.

The band has toured or played selected shows with such bands as Living Colour, The Flaming Lips, Our Lady Peace, Rush, Henry Rollins, Aerosmith, Godsmack, Metallica, Radiohead, The Offspring, Sponge, Seaweed, Hinder, Suicidal Tendencies and Danzig.^[6][7] They were also a featured band on the main-stage at Woodstock ’94 and made repeat live performances on Late Show with David Letterman.

Aaron Watson LIVE at The Bluestone on Friday, November 8th, 2019

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

Opening Artist: Drew Parker

General Admission tickets are $20

PURCHASE HERE 

Aaron Watson Live at The Bluestone November 8th 2019

Aaron Watson isn’t interested in what someone else thinks he should do. But instead of getting lonely as he sidesteps expectations, he’s gaining followers––hundreds of thousands of them. Delivered with a warm smile and fueled by a wild spirit, Watson’s rebellion echoes the land that helped make him.
Watson remains strikingly similar to the people that still dot his native West Texas. They’re a rugged people, proud of home but humble and hardworking, the first to help a neighbor but also fiercely independent. And Watson is unquestionably one of them. “I’ve always considered myself an anti-rock star,” Watson says, his drawl cracking slightly as he grins. “People don’t like me because I’m a rock star. People like me because I’m just like them.”

Throughout Aaron Watson’s 17-year career that spans a dozen albums and more than 2,500 shows throughout the U.S. and Europe, 39-year-old Watson has stubbornly and sincerely identified with the everyman––even as he’s proven to be the exception to the rule.

Steel Panther Live December 9th, 2021 7 PM

The Bluestone

Columbus, Ohio

https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/05005B59EDEA422F

Steel Panther is headed to Columbus, OH to The Bluestone December 9, 2021.

Tickets on sale Friday, October 29 at 10 AM!

• Website: http://www.steelpantherrocks.com/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/steelpanther
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Steel_Panther
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/SteelPanther
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SteelPantherVEVO

About Steel Panther

For the uninitiated, Steel Panther was formed in 2000. Hailing from Los Angeles, the epicenter for rock n’ roll in all its debauchery and glamour, Steel Panther has established themselves as the world’s premier party band, melding hard rock virtuosity with parody and criminally good looks. Steel Panther is a global phenomenon with four full-length albums, touring across the world, platinum-level You Tube status and high-profile television appearances such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, Larry King Now, and FOX NFL Sunday.

Rolling Stone avowed, “There’s a reason Steel Panther have transcended their origins as a cover band playing the Sunset Strip,” while Metal Sucks declared, Steel Panther’s concept is genius…their songwriting is…preposterously snappy –and relatable.

Dorothy

ft. Joyous Wolf & Classless Act

April 24, 2022 6 PM

at The Bluestone

Columbus, Ohio

DOROTHY

Gifts From The Holy Ghost 

Roc Nation

Dorothy Martin’s life changed forever when she was forced to face death on her tour bus some three years ago. After her guitar technician had taken an overdose, and the light began to lift up and out from his body, Dorothy instinctively began praying for his survival. While he may have temporarily died, the technician was astonishingly, miraculously restored back to life as Dorothy and her crew formed a prayer circle near his body. It was this moment that seemed to bring Dorothy to life too. She was gifted a rebirth with a divine intervention that caused a radical and spiritual awakening in the singer, the result of which can be heard on Gifts From The Holy Ghost, Dorothy’s third studio album as front woman for the pseudonymous, blues-rock band Dorothy. 

Gifts From The Holy Ghost is the album she’s always wanted, and has perhaps been destined to make. Born from a sense of divine urgency, it is Dorothy’s most bombastic and gloriously, victorious rock and roll work yet. Each song built on triumph—the unshackling of chains, the slaying of demons with a sword of light—the album is a healing and remedial experience, made to unify listeners and point them towards a life full of purpose. It is Dorothy’s greatest gift yet.  “This album had to get made, I felt like I had a mission,” she said. 

While the band’s first, irreverently named album ROCKISDEAD, was made on a combination of whiskey and heartbreak—inspiring Rolling Stone to name them one of rock’s most exciting new acts, and Jay-Z to sign them to his label Roc Nation—Gifts was built on recovery, health, and holiness, in a way that reverses the clichéd ‘good girl gone bad narrative’. 

With the combined powers of Keith Wallen, Jason Hook, Scott Stevens, Phil X, Trevor Lukather, Joel Hamilton and the legendary ear of Chris Lord Alge, Gifts From The Holy Ghost is made from a musical palette which seems to encompass each of the musician’s influences, as well as many of the essential sounds of rock music’s history—from swampy blues to ‘90s alternative —in a way that makes the case for rock and roll itself. Not only is the genre alive, but it’s more invigorated than ever.

“I think this album is going to speak to a lot of people, it’s meant to be healing, unifying, eye-opening, ear-opening, heart-opening and celebratory,” Dorothy said, adding: “I wanted to make the realest album I could make, and I went in with the question does this make me feel alive? Does it make me feel free? If a song didn’t give me chills or make my heart soar, then it didn’t make the cut.”

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Dorothy has always been an instinctual writer and artist. Throughout her life, she’s been asking the big questions, both in and outside her art: ‘What’s the meaning of life? Why are we here? How are we here?’ When she couldn’t find the answers to those questions, she’d numb out the empty uncertainty with drugs and alcohol. She was eventually admitted to rehab and a new chapter was opened in her spiritual journey. Now, with angels whispering in her ear and the spirit moving her steps, she’s found her answers. “I’m just here to impart inspiring messages to people while having fun and rocking out!”

You can hear Dorothy’s powerful resilience across the album, particularly on “Big Guns”, which finds the singer at her boldest; sauntering over slide guitars as she steps into combat. Anthems like “Rest In Peace” bring a sweeping cinematic scope to the album, whereas “Black Sheep”, a rallying cry for unity, explodes with layered gang vocals: “we are blood, we are family,” Dorothy breaks curses, going toe-to-toe with the blistering guitar riffs. 

The album’s lyrics are a perfect balance of specificity and generality, so that the listener can attach their own darknesses and triumphs to the songs, while still getting a sense of Dorothy’s own. “We are all one human family.” she declares. 

Does that mean Dorothy has overcome all of her own adversities? “It’s a journey and it’s about progress not perfection,” she responds. “I’ve had a lot of deep revelations about my life, stuff I hadn’t been able to cope with until now. Now I’m learning new tools.” With Gifts From The Holy Ghost, Dorothy identifies her purpose as an artist. She conquers darkness with light, numbness with feeling, disharmony with unity—all while delivering one of this year’s most fun rock & roll records.

Joyous Wolf Bio

A gritty howl opens Joyous Wolf’s upcoming debut LP, Enigma, and it’s the perfect introduction since the band plays rock & roll at its most primal and passionate. Guitarist Blake Allard’s bluesy riffs harken back to the classic hard rock of AC/DC, Cream and Deep Purple while still packing a thoroughly modern wallop, while frontman Nick Reese’s voice seems to come from deep in his gut as he sings about everything from warring kingdoms to a tribute to a fallen friend. Together, with bassist Greg Braccio and drummer Robert Sodaro, Joyous Wolf’s members work together to create some of the most exciting, promising and unwieldy back-to-basics rock to come out of Southern California in recent years.

Whether nimbly navigating the swaggering, powerful groove of their go-to concert opener, “Mountain Man,” or digging into their instruments for a jammy, funky guitar solo “Major Headthrob,” the group has an unpredictable quality – a sort of unique freedom within rock & roll – that makes Enigma compelling. Part of the credit for this goes to producer Val Garay (Santana, Neil Diamond, Reel Big Fish) who came aboard at the last minute to help them achieve the record’s raw sound, which captures how Joyous Wolf sound live. But mostly, the electric feeling that defines Enigma is just something in the band’s DNA.

“When I’m playing rock & roll, it’s the only time where I feel indestructible,” Reese says. “When I heard Elvis sing ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ for the first time, I knew exactly what my heart wanted and what I wanted.”

“I think people are starting to realize the overproduction and fakeness of pop music, which is why rock is coming back,” Allard says. “We love being a rock band.” Joyous Wolf formed in November 2014, but their roots stretch back to sixth grade when Reese first crossed paths with Sodaro by fate – they had to assemble next to each other because their names were alphabetically side-by-side. Reese recalls a middle-school battle of the bands where neither he nor Sodaro was playing, but Reese declared that one day he was going to be “the best singer ever” and that Sodaro would play drums. It would take a few years, but after stints where both musicians duked it out playing in punk and alternative bands (“all of that crap,” Reese adds) they fulfilled Reese’s prophecy. The singer drafted Allard, whom he’d met randomly in the acoustic room at a Guitar Center when the two jammed on CCR’s “Born on the Bayou,” and Sodaro brought in his high-school friend Braccio to play bass. 

Before long, the quartet was jamming in Sodaro’s folks’ garage, annoying the neighbors and entertaining the local authorities. “Once on Halloween, we were rehearsing at 11 p.m. writing songs, and we faced Nick’s monitors out the window toward a canyon full of houses,” Allard recalls. “Then we saw this car at the front gate, and it’s the sheriff. He comes into the practice room and goes, ‘Hey guys, I hate to shut you down because it sounds really good, but we got a complaint from across the canyon that it was too loud.’ We still practice but not like that anymore.”

One of the first songs they played together was “Sleep Weep Stomp,” Enigma’s slow-burning, sludgy blues burner. It’s the style of music that Reese feels closest to. “I’m a blues singer, 100 percent,” he says. “That’s my everything.” The singer grew up on blues, jazz, and Fifties rock & roll. “When my dad showed me, Elvis, that was the end of it,” he says. “I needed to hear every artist that inspired Elvis and then the people who inspired them. Suddenly I had a record collection. It all felt natural: B.B. King made me want to scream my pain away. You hear all these people and you want to express all the things you love. I don’t care if people think it’s old or not current. It doesn’t matter to me.” By his own estimation, he didn’t hear anything “current” until he was 13 and borrowed his sister’s Discman only to hear the Strokes’ “Is This It”. Similarly, Allard was raised on classic rock. “My dad taught me my first song ever, ‘Sunshine of Your Love,’ by Cream,” he says. “I always went back to that kind of old blues-rock music. Even if I was into metal or hard rock, I always went back to the classics like B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin.”

These influences shine through on Enigma. “Killing the Messenger” begins with some crushing classic heavy-metal riffs before giving way to a boogieing verse riff where Sodaro and Braccio can bash out their rhythms freely while Reese yowls a tale about two warring kingdoms, and how an evil monarch tricks one of his most popular subjects into delivering a nasty message to the other kingdom only so he would be executed. Reese says the moral Is “life isn’t fair and it isn’t always a happy ending.” The beat-heavy “Mountain Man,” whose lyrics lambaste one of Reese’s former less-than-refined coworkers at a coffee shop, whom the singer says claimed he could “carve a knife out of the tree,” began with a guitar riff that was so forceful that the band couldn’t deny its power. “He had this little riff and we were laughing because it was so stupid-simple,” Reese says. “And it is. It’s our quote-unquote ‘dumbest song,’ but when we used it to open at the Viper Room, the audience response became one of our staple songs.”

The band is also able to channel more somber tones. The acoustic “Remember By” showcases thoughtful performances by both Allard and Reese, who wrote the song in tribute to a friend of his who had taken his own life. It came from a moment of pure inspiration. “I recorded us when we were fooling around, and it was perfect,” Reese says. “I pushed for us to record that song so hard. I said, ‘Please do it exactly like you did it. Please.’ That was me saying goodbye.”After they put out their Daisy EP in late 2015, it took the band about two years total to fine-tune and perfect Enigma. And while songwriting was a big chunk of that (the ominous riff for “Turning Blue” took them six months to perfect), they went through several passes of mixing and mastering it to get it to sound like it does. When Garay finally came aboard, they were able to establish the right mixture of nuance and directness. “It’s so much more animal,” Reese says, using the perfect adjective, to describe the way Enigma turned out. That “animal” sound has earned Joyous Wolf some notable gigs, including performances at L.A.’s famed Whisky a Go-Go, the Viper Room and the Regent Theater, where they recently opened for Eagles of Death Metal. Now they’re ready to move on to even bigger stages. “When we play a show, we go out and we kick ass,” Reese says, sounding confident. “We’re headhunters”. Headhunting on the road will now be even easier, with their upcoming record Enigma, an album that demonstrates what Reese calls Joyous Wolf’s “mojo.” – Kory Grow Rolling Stone Magazine 2017

Classless Act Bio

When they released their debut single “Give It To Me” in the summer of 2021, Classless Act were immediately praised for their ability to sound both fresh and timeless. Loudwire instantly added the song to their “Weekly Wire” Spotify playlist, identifying it as one of the top new releases of the summer. And other iconic outlets, like SPIN Magazine, were early to show support. It was a fitting public introduction to a band who embody what it means to be modern rock stars.

The band – consisting of members Derek Day (Vocals), Dane Pieper (Guitar), Griffin Tucker (Guitar), Franco Gravante (Bass), and Chuck McKissock (Drums) – initially formed in 2018 after connecting and bonding virtually by their love and passion of music. Now in Los Angeles, they’ve united on a mission to be the next great generation-defining act, drawing inspiration from classic rock acts of the 70’s and alt-rock groups from the 90’s. Their music echoes the hallmarks of previous generations – anthemic rhythms, shreddy guitars, soaring vocals – but punches its way into the future with clever arrangements, sharp musicianship, and proficient songwriting.

Already making noise in the industry, the band has been in the studio with world-class producers like Bob Rock, Michael Beinhorn and Joe Chiccarrelli, who have helped craft hits for the likes of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes. The band recently landed a deal with Better Noise Music, Mediabase and Billboard’s #1 rock label for 2020. Their debut album is expected in 2022, when the band will be hitting the road with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, and more, on their Summer Stadium Tour.